March 3, 1952: Employees of Boyertown School District Take Required Loyalty Oath

By Margaret Leidy Harner from her book One Day at a Time: A Social History of Boyertown, PA.

March 3, 1952: All employees of the Boyertown School District, including principals, teachers, secretaries, custodians, and cafeteria workers, have taken the Pennsylvania State Loyalty Oath in a special ceremony in the high school library, administered by Justice of the Peace Robert Chittick.

The employees took the Oath as a body, and individually, they were required to sign the Loyalty forms, which were then officially signed and sealed by Chittick. Governor John S. Fine launched the mass loyalty oath observance by taking the oath himself in the State Capitol.

A new law requires that all state public employees and federal workers swear that they are not subversive and do not belong to subversive organizations. All who refuse to take the oath MUST be summarily dismissed from their job!

More News from Boyertown

• Prothonotary Warbler--May's Bird of the Month Prothonotary warblers delight our area with their sunshine color and active voice.
• May 16, 1937: Angry Laborers Cause Damage in Home of Hosiery Mill Foreman Angry laborers left their foreman a message of their displeasure over the company's wage scale by throwing oil through a window of his home, ruining walls and furniture.